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Summer Baseball Nation: Nine Days in the Wood Bat Leagues
The college baseball season doesn’t end when the school year is finished. Many of the top NCAA Division I, II, and III baseball players continue to play in one of the game’s most unique environments, the summer wood bat leagues. They swap aluminum bats for wood and play from June through August in more than forty states. The poetry of America’s pastime persists as soon-to-be stars such as Gordon Beckham, Buster Posey, and Aaron Judge crash in spare bedrooms and play for free on city and college ball fields.
Summer Baseball Nation chronicles a season in America’s summer collegiate baseball leagues. From the Cape to Alaska and a lot of places in between, Will Geoghegan tells the stories of a eighteen of the best college players in the country playing Wiffle ball on Cape Cod, the Midnight Sun Game in Alaska, a California legend picking up another win, home runs flying into Lake Michigan, and the namesake of an old Minor League club packing the same charming ballpark. At every stop, players chase dreams while players and fans alike savor the moment.
Summer Baseball Nation chronicles a season in America’s summer collegiate baseball leagues. From the Cape to Alaska and a lot of places in between, Will Geoghegan tells the stories of a eighteen of the best college players in the country playing Wiffle ball on Cape Cod, the Midnight Sun Game in Alaska, a California legend picking up another win, home runs flying into Lake Michigan, and the namesake of an old Minor League club packing the same charming ballpark. At every stop, players chase dreams while players and fans alike savor the moment.
- GenresBaseballSportsNonfiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2020
10 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Will Geoghegan
1 book2 followersWill Geoghegan is an award-winning sportswriter in Rhode Island. He has covered the Cape Cod Baseball League since 2007 and the Ocean State Waves of the New England Collegiate Baseball League since 2014. A native of Louisville, Ky., he lives in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, with wife Meg, daughter Molly and cat Banjo.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 11, 2020
I have been fortunate during my entire life that I have lived in or near Major League Baseball cities. Until this year of stadiums without fans, I had gone to at least one game every year since I was four. Even though I am glad that baseball finally started up again, it is bittersweet in that I can not attend any games. I’m not the only one who had baseball dreams burst this summer. For the thousands of minor and summer league ballplayers, their seasons were canceled. Not only did this cancellation affect the players hoping for a chance to get a year of development in, it also spoiled the season for communities across the country who call lower level baseball home. Will Geoghegan is someone who earns a living following summer league baseball. Four years ago he decided to travel to cities across the country who host summer baseball leagues.
If anyone has seen the movie Summer Catch, then they are familiar with the concept of summer league baseball. College players still hoping to get drafted in a year or two can participate in a summer league that uses the same wooden bats as the majors. The teams are run by baseball lifers and the players go back to their college teams the following year with that extra instruction and conditioning under their belt. Summer ball is played in all fifty states from Alaska to Maine, communities looking forward to its presence for their short seasons. Players stay with host families, participate in community activities, and feel as though they are part of these far flung places by the time the season is over. Geoghegan grew up watching Cape Cod League baseball on summer vacations with his parents. Baseball was as much a part of his trip to the Cape as was the beach and the quaint locales where he stayed. He enjoyed these trips to the ballpark so much that he has covered the New England Central Baseball League for the last few years. But what of summer baseball played outside of New England? In 2016, Geoghegan traveled to summer league games in Alaska, California, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., embarking on a two month vacation of a life time.
Cape Cod and Alaska summer league ball have been around for decades, both producing a who’s who of notable major league alumni. Rising prospects vie to play for storied franchises like the Cape’s Cotuit Kettleers, Santa Barbara Foresters, and Fairbanks Goldpanners. Playing for two months on one of these teams can all but ensure that players catch the eyes of scouts, giving them the inside track to get drafted in the following year’s major league draft. Thousands of players play for the pure joy of playing ball, getting one last chance to play ball before finishing college and moving on to their adult lives. Summer league ball provides the nexus between these two groups along with communities who would otherwise not get a chance to see a baseball game. The community involvement at these games is almost as much of a joy to see as the players themselves, as fans young and rally around these young players hoping for bragging rights for a year. It is this baseball at its purest form that Geoghegan hoped to see in 2016 and the games he attended did not disappoint.
Geoghegan attended the Midnight Sun game in Alaska on June 21, 2016 in Fairbanks, Alaska. The sun only sets for two hours on the summer solstice and the game starts at 10:30 pm with no lights. For the members of the Goldpanners, it is an honor to play in this game that lists alumni as Tom Seaver and Barry Bonds. Perhaps, a member of the 2016 team would make it to the majors next. The Kenosha Kingfishers hosted the 2016 Northwoods League all star game, including a home run derby where participants hit balls into Lake Michigan. Kayakers vied ti retrieve homers just like in McCovey Cove in San Francisco. Had I known about this unique experience, I would have timed a visit home to watch as I’m sure I would have seen some future major leagues. Meanwhile, the Homestead Grays of Washington, D.C. did not enjoy the best year but encouraged minority kids to play baseball and softball, running clinics and getting kids on track so perhaps they could be future major leaguers. The parents loved that their kids could play baseball and enjoyed watching the Homestead Grays. The best of the best though was the Santa Barbara Foresters who featured future major leaguers on their roster and steamrolled through both the California and national summer league schedules en route to an unprecedented six straight national championship. The only other team with as many titles: the Fairbanks Goldpanners, who despite the recent prominence of Santa Barbara, still sets the standard for summer league ball along with Cape Cod, two storied and unique locations to play baseball.
I am well aware of the 2016 major league champions. The memory will never fade from my heart as long as I live. Will Geoghegan on a summer vacation of a lifetime brought to my attention the college students who play summer ball for the pure joy of it and the communities who rally around their presence. He writes this book like the online journalist that he is, but it is still a unique look at baseball from an angle that I would not often consider. A number of the players featured in this book have already made the major leagues or are at high levels of the minors, proving that summer league ball may be baseball at its purest but also a stepping stone to the ultimate goal of making it to the majors. Hopefully, for fans across America, summer league baseball will be back next year. Knowing about these storied leagues, I may even have to attend a game. It is sure to be gimmicky and more of a family feeling than the one I get at most major league ballparks.
3.5 stars
If anyone has seen the movie Summer Catch, then they are familiar with the concept of summer league baseball. College players still hoping to get drafted in a year or two can participate in a summer league that uses the same wooden bats as the majors. The teams are run by baseball lifers and the players go back to their college teams the following year with that extra instruction and conditioning under their belt. Summer ball is played in all fifty states from Alaska to Maine, communities looking forward to its presence for their short seasons. Players stay with host families, participate in community activities, and feel as though they are part of these far flung places by the time the season is over. Geoghegan grew up watching Cape Cod League baseball on summer vacations with his parents. Baseball was as much a part of his trip to the Cape as was the beach and the quaint locales where he stayed. He enjoyed these trips to the ballpark so much that he has covered the New England Central Baseball League for the last few years. But what of summer baseball played outside of New England? In 2016, Geoghegan traveled to summer league games in Alaska, California, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., embarking on a two month vacation of a life time.
Cape Cod and Alaska summer league ball have been around for decades, both producing a who’s who of notable major league alumni. Rising prospects vie to play for storied franchises like the Cape’s Cotuit Kettleers, Santa Barbara Foresters, and Fairbanks Goldpanners. Playing for two months on one of these teams can all but ensure that players catch the eyes of scouts, giving them the inside track to get drafted in the following year’s major league draft. Thousands of players play for the pure joy of playing ball, getting one last chance to play ball before finishing college and moving on to their adult lives. Summer league ball provides the nexus between these two groups along with communities who would otherwise not get a chance to see a baseball game. The community involvement at these games is almost as much of a joy to see as the players themselves, as fans young and rally around these young players hoping for bragging rights for a year. It is this baseball at its purest form that Geoghegan hoped to see in 2016 and the games he attended did not disappoint.
Geoghegan attended the Midnight Sun game in Alaska on June 21, 2016 in Fairbanks, Alaska. The sun only sets for two hours on the summer solstice and the game starts at 10:30 pm with no lights. For the members of the Goldpanners, it is an honor to play in this game that lists alumni as Tom Seaver and Barry Bonds. Perhaps, a member of the 2016 team would make it to the majors next. The Kenosha Kingfishers hosted the 2016 Northwoods League all star game, including a home run derby where participants hit balls into Lake Michigan. Kayakers vied ti retrieve homers just like in McCovey Cove in San Francisco. Had I known about this unique experience, I would have timed a visit home to watch as I’m sure I would have seen some future major leagues. Meanwhile, the Homestead Grays of Washington, D.C. did not enjoy the best year but encouraged minority kids to play baseball and softball, running clinics and getting kids on track so perhaps they could be future major leaguers. The parents loved that their kids could play baseball and enjoyed watching the Homestead Grays. The best of the best though was the Santa Barbara Foresters who featured future major leaguers on their roster and steamrolled through both the California and national summer league schedules en route to an unprecedented six straight national championship. The only other team with as many titles: the Fairbanks Goldpanners, who despite the recent prominence of Santa Barbara, still sets the standard for summer league ball along with Cape Cod, two storied and unique locations to play baseball.
I am well aware of the 2016 major league champions. The memory will never fade from my heart as long as I live. Will Geoghegan on a summer vacation of a lifetime brought to my attention the college students who play summer ball for the pure joy of it and the communities who rally around their presence. He writes this book like the online journalist that he is, but it is still a unique look at baseball from an angle that I would not often consider. A number of the players featured in this book have already made the major leagues or are at high levels of the minors, proving that summer league ball may be baseball at its purest but also a stepping stone to the ultimate goal of making it to the majors. Hopefully, for fans across America, summer league baseball will be back next year. Knowing about these storied leagues, I may even have to attend a game. It is sure to be gimmicky and more of a family feeling than the one I get at most major league ballparks.
3.5 stars
June 5, 2024
While the word “baseball” will conjure up images of Major League players and ballparks with tens of thousands of fans in attendance, there are summer baseball games in which the players are not paid millions of dollars, tickets are fairly inexpensive, the teams are very popular in the local town – and those players are college players whose seasons ended but are playing to keep their skills sharp. These summer leagues are described in this wonderful book by Will Geoghegan in which he spends nine days during the summer of 2016 watching some of these teams.
What makes this book a pleasure to read is that while reading it, it’s easy to imagine one’s self sitting in the bleachers at one of these games in places like Hampton, Virginia, Kenosha, Wisconsin, or Cotuit, Massachusetts. The teams in those three towns, as well as Fairbanks, Alaska are the main focal points of the book. When writing about these teams, their players or the towns, Geoghegan shares the experience with enough detail that readers just might be picturing themselves as sitting in the bleachers at Hampton’s War Memorial Stadium cheering on the Peninsula Pilots or following the ups and downs of the 2016 season for the Cotuit Kettleers.
If a reader is picking up this book looking for statistics like WAR and OPS+ on these college players, or maybe about the cutthroat world of trying to improve either a signing bonus or draft position for these players, then the reader will have to look elsewhere. The business of baseball in this book is about the general managers and other employees of these teams who do everything from advertising to manning concession booths, all for the love of the game. A few basic statistics are mentioned for better players but those are very minor pieces of their stories.
The stories that make this book so great are the ones that just are not present in professional baseball – the Midnight Sun game, an annual tradition for the Alaska Goldpanners. An unusual home run derby hosted by Kenosha in which the long balls land in Lake Michigan. A rebirth of baseball in Hampton long after the last minor league left town and the town’s love affair with the collegiate players. Reading this makes one realize that there is so much more to the game than just the big money and big statistics. This book is baseball at the grass roots and it is so much fun to read that it comes highly recommended for any baseball fan.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
What makes this book a pleasure to read is that while reading it, it’s easy to imagine one’s self sitting in the bleachers at one of these games in places like Hampton, Virginia, Kenosha, Wisconsin, or Cotuit, Massachusetts. The teams in those three towns, as well as Fairbanks, Alaska are the main focal points of the book. When writing about these teams, their players or the towns, Geoghegan shares the experience with enough detail that readers just might be picturing themselves as sitting in the bleachers at Hampton’s War Memorial Stadium cheering on the Peninsula Pilots or following the ups and downs of the 2016 season for the Cotuit Kettleers.
If a reader is picking up this book looking for statistics like WAR and OPS+ on these college players, or maybe about the cutthroat world of trying to improve either a signing bonus or draft position for these players, then the reader will have to look elsewhere. The business of baseball in this book is about the general managers and other employees of these teams who do everything from advertising to manning concession booths, all for the love of the game. A few basic statistics are mentioned for better players but those are very minor pieces of their stories.
The stories that make this book so great are the ones that just are not present in professional baseball – the Midnight Sun game, an annual tradition for the Alaska Goldpanners. An unusual home run derby hosted by Kenosha in which the long balls land in Lake Michigan. A rebirth of baseball in Hampton long after the last minor league left town and the town’s love affair with the collegiate players. Reading this makes one realize that there is so much more to the game than just the big money and big statistics. This book is baseball at the grass roots and it is so much fun to read that it comes highly recommended for any baseball fan.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
February 9, 2021
This book is touted as a vessel to take you through the college summer leagues. In reality this book is a hot mess. The chapters are supposed to be broken up by league, but it really focuses on one team with a brief mention of another team or two in the league.
The Cape Cod League is leaned on. The first chapter focus on the Cotuit Kettleers. They receive two more chapters in the book, but these chapters focus on the league as a whole as well as an update on the other teams covered in the book. It is confusing, for example chapter four talks about Kenosha Kingfish even though they aren’t introduced until the next chapter. In fact Mr. Geoghegan introduces the team by saying, In Kenosha, Wi......the Kingsfish mascot in a chef’s hat. He doesn’t even tell you their name is the Kenosha Kingfish, you have to decipher from the paragraph. He also introduces the DC Grays and Peninsula Pilots in the chapter like you are familiar with them even though they are covered later in the book. These chapters are confusing and poorly written in my opinion.
I really wanted to like this book, but I found it poorly structured. The concept of the book is intriguing, but layout and coverage are lacking. The last chapter, Extra Innings, sums up the seasons for all team, but then also gives a brief summary of what happens in the following season. It was like the author got to the end and decided he needed more material, so he covered a whole season in 10 pages. Covering all of the collegiate wood bat leagues in two hundred and twenty pages was a tough task. You never really felt like you got a good sense of the league or the people in it since each league only had a 20 page chapter.
If you are looking for a solid book that covers the college summer leagues, I suggest you check out The Last Best League. It only covers The Cap Cod League and specifically the Chatham A’s, but it is a much better look into college summer leagues.
The Cape Cod League is leaned on. The first chapter focus on the Cotuit Kettleers. They receive two more chapters in the book, but these chapters focus on the league as a whole as well as an update on the other teams covered in the book. It is confusing, for example chapter four talks about Kenosha Kingfish even though they aren’t introduced until the next chapter. In fact Mr. Geoghegan introduces the team by saying, In Kenosha, Wi......the Kingsfish mascot in a chef’s hat. He doesn’t even tell you their name is the Kenosha Kingfish, you have to decipher from the paragraph. He also introduces the DC Grays and Peninsula Pilots in the chapter like you are familiar with them even though they are covered later in the book. These chapters are confusing and poorly written in my opinion.
I really wanted to like this book, but I found it poorly structured. The concept of the book is intriguing, but layout and coverage are lacking. The last chapter, Extra Innings, sums up the seasons for all team, but then also gives a brief summary of what happens in the following season. It was like the author got to the end and decided he needed more material, so he covered a whole season in 10 pages. Covering all of the collegiate wood bat leagues in two hundred and twenty pages was a tough task. You never really felt like you got a good sense of the league or the people in it since each league only had a 20 page chapter.
If you are looking for a solid book that covers the college summer leagues, I suggest you check out The Last Best League. It only covers The Cap Cod League and specifically the Chatham A’s, but it is a much better look into college summer leagues.
April 15, 2020
Great book!
April 5, 2020
A fun look into collegiate wood-bat summer league baseball across the US. With stops in multiple towns(cities) and leagues Geoghegan keeps up with college kids trying to keep the dream alive. Being from Madison I wish he had focused on the Mallards instead of the Kingfish on his swing through the Midwest, but hey, the Mallards don't really need the extra publicity.
While the author obviously knows baseball he needs an editor that does too, to clean up a spots. One noticable passage made it seem like he confused the home and away teams and had them both hitting in the bottom of the inning.
Hopefully a paperback edition comes out in a year or two and fills readers in on where the pro prospects ended up and how they are doing. I'm a nerd so I knew a few of the names(especially Milwaukee Brewers prospect Keston Hiura) but I'd imagine most readers won't know who these kids are. It would be fun to see how many make it to The Show.
While the author obviously knows baseball he needs an editor that does too, to clean up a spots. One noticable passage made it seem like he confused the home and away teams and had them both hitting in the bottom of the inning.
Hopefully a paperback edition comes out in a year or two and fills readers in on where the pro prospects ended up and how they are doing. I'm a nerd so I knew a few of the names(especially Milwaukee Brewers prospect Keston Hiura) but I'd imagine most readers won't know who these kids are. It would be fun to see how many make it to The Show.
June 21, 2021
Having checked out the Cape Cod League a few years ago, I was interested in this book to get a feel for the other independent summer leagues in the country. This book was a underwhelming, though, in that it skipped around haphazardly from league to league without a real through line or organization to the chapters. It focused on a team or two in each league but I'd rather get a deeper look at any particular league. Jim Collins' "The Last Best League" about the Cape Cod League was a far superior example.
June 21, 2022
I had really high hopes for this book, and it did deliver in moments. It really shines when the author gets into all the personalities peppered across the country’s summer leagues.
Sadly the format of the book leads to it reading like a shopping list. Player A went 1-for-3 this night, then Player B pitched 2 innings the next night, and so on throughout many of the chapters. The book covers so many people and so many teams, it ends up losing its focus. It gets a bit monotonous unfortunately.
I think the book would have benefited from a narrower focus, similar to John Feinstein’s “Where Nobody Knows Your Name.” I’d have loved to see the author follow a handful of summer league players and tell their whole story in depth. Instead, we just get snippets, and mostly just their on-field numbers. Once this begins repeating the book gets a bit stale, which is a shame as there is potential here.
Sadly the format of the book leads to it reading like a shopping list. Player A went 1-for-3 this night, then Player B pitched 2 innings the next night, and so on throughout many of the chapters. The book covers so many people and so many teams, it ends up losing its focus. It gets a bit monotonous unfortunately.
I think the book would have benefited from a narrower focus, similar to John Feinstein’s “Where Nobody Knows Your Name.” I’d have loved to see the author follow a handful of summer league players and tell their whole story in depth. Instead, we just get snippets, and mostly just their on-field numbers. Once this begins repeating the book gets a bit stale, which is a shame as there is potential here.
May 31, 2020
In a season without baseball, this book brings the reader down to the field, exploring life in the summer wood bat leagues, venues where prospects and near prospects audition while bonding with small, summertime communities. This is not a book about the professional minor leagues. While I was already aware of the Cape Cod League and the Alaska Baseball League, the author visits several locations new to me. Should the minor leagues retrench, a process occurring independent of Covid, these leagues, intimately described by the author, may become more robust substitutes when we return to normalcy. Read this enjoyable love affair with the game at its most basic and see if you agree.
June 25, 2020
Really enjoyable book about the summer collegiate leagues across the country, following teams in different regions and leagues to tell a composite story of the circuit. Lots of great stories from the summer of 2016, where the author traveled around the country, as well as the history of how the leagues evolved and became a magnet for top collegiate talent. Most fans might be familiar with the Cape Cod League - which is a focus - and maybe their own local one, but you’ll learn a lot about teams and leagues elsewhere by reading this. It will also make you wistful for summer days spent outside at the ballpark. A highly recommended read.
February 20, 2022
I was looking forward to this one as small city I live in had a summer college team for a decade or so.
While the book reflects the feel at times, it bogs down in player names and performances that meant little to me being outside the local teams I suppose .
I was hoping for more from players, city mayors, advertisers, fans, about the importance of summer leagues and local teams.
Sadly this one just dragged.
While the book reflects the feel at times, it bogs down in player names and performances that meant little to me being outside the local teams I suppose .
I was hoping for more from players, city mayors, advertisers, fans, about the importance of summer leagues and local teams.
Sadly this one just dragged.
July 10, 2022
Not sure what I was expecting, but I've been eying this book for several years. It's just a lot of minutiae about life in several different Summer Leagues. There's just too much bouncing around for my tastes I guess. I'd rather it focused on just the Cape Cod League or maybe the Northwoods League, but they're going to Alaska, Virginia, etc.
This might be one to read in the dead of winter when you're craving any baseball content, rather than a summer beach read.
This might be one to read in the dead of winter when you're craving any baseball content, rather than a summer beach read.
June 21, 2021
Author chronicles 2016 events/players as they aspire to capture the attentions of scouts in an effort to get drafted into the major Leagues. The first half of the book the author sets scenes to which he will return throughout the book. Previous players who made it big after playing in these leagues are mentioned. No pix, no index. 'Summer Catch'
August 2, 2025
Summer Baseball was exactly what I expected, no more and no less. It was a fun, brisk look at summer baseball around the country. It didn’t offer any groundbreaking insights, but I enjoyed my experience.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews